Smoke and Mirrors (8)

Eight

Silver and Flame

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I was feeling cold in these tunnels, but no matter how hard I tried to thicken the flames around my shoulders, I couldn't.

I knew I had powers--I'd used them only yesterday, when Sterling tried to kill me. But why couldn't I use them now? Was it like a muscle? Was it only activated in certain situations? I didn't know.

Pushing the thought away for now, I focused on keeping my steps silent. I passed easily through Shi's fire path, but it didn't stop me from flinching at first. The fire felt like nothing more than a warm, comforting blanket to me, but I still wanted to freeze--was that the right wording for this scenario?--every time I passed through the flames from habit. I remembered days when fire did burn, and this sudden absence of pain confused me.

I hid behind the rock wall, hoping that my dress wouldn't shine too brightly and give me away.

Mom walked Sterling to a cave embedded in the wall, swung a metal door shut, locked it, and then sealed the doorway with fire, just a foot away.

I turned and quickly hurried off, trying my best to keep my steps soft on the gravel.

My room looked darker and more foreboding than ever before as I waited for my mother to return. I had so many questions to ask her, especially now that I had learned about this whole "Testing" thingamajig. Shi made it sound like it was impossible to pass without others knowing about your Talent, so how did she make it?

I sat on the stone floor, my legs crossed beneath the thick, ever-burning flames of my dress. I focussed on the torch in the corner of my room--on trying to extinguish it's flame. When mom came in, I jumped.

She sighed deeply and sat down on the litter-box-bed. Placing her head in her hands, she mumbled tiredly, "I'm sure you must have a lot of questions. Ask away, Darling."

I readjusted my position on the floor to face her and then replied, "Are they going to be okay? Are they cool in those rooms?"

She glanced at me from her hands. "Of course they are. Their cells are refrigerated. I’m not a monster, Tessa."

I exhaled a sigh of relief. "Good. Now for the interesting stuff. What did the King of Time mean about the whole 'Testing' thing and you not being able to pass it?"

A tired smile crossed her features and dimpled her cheek. "I told you I was strong. I am the only person to ever pass the Testing without my Talent revealing itself. See, before the day of their wedding, every royal must be placed inside a glass tube for one hour. There is a machine that is run--with the other royals as observers--that 'disturbs' your powers. In my case, flames should have danced on my hands without my summoning them."

"That sounds. . . painful," I said quietly.

"Oh, I assure you, it's quite harmless. It's like being placed in a breathing chamber.”

"How did you pass it without showing your powers? Yin Yue told me you were Talentless." I absently ran my fingers through the rocky dirt around me, tracing invisible patterns that only I could see.

She raised her head and clasped her hands in her lap. "When I was young, I had an older sister--your aunt." I had an aunt?! "She was very cruel, but very. . . determined. She threatened me any time I showed signs of developing my Talent, since she wasn't very strong on her own yet, and wanted the Fire Throne. I had to work hard to keep her from knowing that I was already developing, or she would have killed me."

Mom tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I--unwillingly, of course--had to trick our parents into thinking that I was Talentless. Seraphina--my sister--was then heralded as being the most powerful in our family as she grew older, and I was pitied for being so Talentless."

I stared at her with sympathetic eyes and a furrowed brow. "That's awful! Why didn't you just ignore her? If you're so strong, you could have easily defeated her."

She winced. "Because the one time I tried, she gave me this." She curled her hand above her sleeve of fire and it thinned out, revealing her shoulder and bicep. It was burned horribly into the shape of a child's handprint.

I gasped, my hands flying over my mouth. "Oh, Mom! That's horrible!"

She uncurled her fist and her sleeve of flickering fire covered the handprint. "Yeah, it was. From that day onward, I tried to stay out of her way as much as possible. I never crossed her again." She winked. "Not blatantly, of course."

I shook my head, my hands still covering my mouth. "I feel so sorry for you! What did your parents do?!"

She snorted. "It upset them when they saw it, but I never said who did it. I, like the coward I was, never told them out of fear of what would happen. But the burn she left was enough to convince them I was Talentless." She inhaled. "I learned that hiding powers strengthened them when they finally came out--but it also allowed them to hide when it was time for my Testing. That is how I passed."

I glanced down at my dress. "What about this? Does my dress weaken you?"

She shook her head. "No, no. That is very little, and it's even easier since you also have Talent. I honestly just had to light it."

I was quiet as I took in the information. "So. . . what happened to Seraphina? And why did you burn if you were already growing your powers? I don't burn."

"I'd rather not discuss her," she replied with a sniff. "But I burned because, as I said, my powers were hidden deep inside--so deep, that my body didn't even use them for protection because I never let them act naturally.”

"Man, that's rough.” I inhaled. “Okay, next question. Why do you want me to marry Shi? Why can't I just marry some normal person or something?"

She laughed. "Do you think a normal man could handle this?"

"True. But still."

"First off, Shi is a good guy, and he rules Time! If you married him, you could control Fire, Water, and Time!"

"Wait, so I can control Water?!"

"With practice, yes." She flicked a hand towards the torch, changing the color to blue. The whole room was covered in a glow that was matched only the sea.

I shook my head. "Shi is already in love with Yin Yue. Plus, I don't want to rule Time! That's way too much responsibility for an eighteen-year-old. So--you can just go ahead and let him go."

"Nonsense. You could rule the entire kingdom with just those elements alone! Give it time. He'll come around! You'll see. And besides"--she tossed her hair over her shoulder--"I can't let him out now that he knows I have a Talent. He needs to agree to marry you first. Once I make sure he's part of my plan, I won't have to worry about his knowing "

I started to protest, but stopped.

If she thought I was against her, she might decide to watch me a little closer. She had always been that way, even when I was little. I remembered just having to make a single comment that a batch of cookies smelled good, and from that moment on, her eyes would be on me to keep me out of them.

"I'm sure you're right." But I knew she wasn't. She was horribly wrong. I could never rule all of Time, let alone Fire and Water. And another question kept nagging at me.

Why would she want me to?

That evening, when mom had gone to bed, I snuck out of my room and into the tunnel with the cells.

I had to get Shi out of there.

The first cell I passed was Sterling's, but I hurriedly passed that one as if the fire that guarded it would burn me. There was no way I wanted him out.

Shi's door was simple enough to find, but unlocking it was another matter entirely.

It was guarded by fire to keep him in, but it was also guarded by a locked metal door to ensure he stayed in. I didn't know why he didn't freeze time--or whatever his Talent was supposedly good for--before she locked him in.

I stuck my hand through the fire and tried to tap against the door--quietly, of course.

"Hello?" Shi replied loudly, albeit muffled.

I tried to hush him, sticking my mouth near the keyhole in the door, which was bright red from the heat. "Quiet. I'm gonna get you out."

I stuck my finger on the knob and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping it would just burn open or something. When I opened an eye to peek, nothing had happened, and I probably looked constipated.

"How?" he asked, a little quieter now.

I scratched my scalp. "I'm not sure."

I heard what sounded like a sigh, but could have just as easily been the hiss of a burning stone in the distance.

I scanned the ground for a metal pick for the lock, but of course, there was nothing.

--And I had no idea where the key was, or where mom slept.

Exhaling, I turned and started towards the series of caves, but then stopped when a flash of silver caught my eye.

Through Sterling's door, a tiny, tiny tentacle of silver was slithering through the keyhole, and then back out again from under the door. It poked at the lock several times, but then stopped and disappeared under the door before trying again from the other side.

My breath caught.

I was being forced to decide. On one hand, Yin Yue had saved my life and deserved a guy who loved her. Shi didn't deserve to fall prey to my mom's plans for getting me the most power possible.

--But on the other hand, since I had yet to find a key, Sterling would be the only way to get that door unlocked. There weren’t many metal pieces inside a volcano fortress.

No. There was no way Sterling would help me. He hated me! I almost died twice because of him!

. . . But he had seemed pretty interested when mom said she had passed the Testing without revealing her Talent, and outside of her, only I knew that secret. Would he be willing to swap a secret for a service?

Ugh! This was so frustrating! I never asked for any of this. I was just trying to survive normal life, let alone--whatever this was.

Get a grip, Tessa! You don't have much time here!

Dragging a hand down my face, I moved to Sterling's cell door and whispered, "Knock knock?"

"Who's there?"

My stomach felt like it was being twisted into taffy. "The girl who has a bargain for you."

A pause met me. "'The Girl Who Has a Bargain For Me' who?"

"Ah, nice to see you psychopaths have a sense of humor."

"I do try."

I sighed, crouching down to meet the keyhole.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Oops, sorry. I must have mistaken what we're already doing for something else."

"Oh, shush. I'm serious! I need to hurry or I'll be caught!" My tone was a fierce whisper.

I heard him scoff. "Yay. That'll eliminate one of my bigger problems." I also heard the scuff of his feet against the floor as he drew nearer, and then sat down. "What seems to be your problem? By the way, before you start, counselling is fifty an hour."

I rolled my eyes at the wall of fire. "Alright, then listen up. Shi needs to get out of here--so do you. I can help both of you."

There was silence, and at first I thought I'd have to repeat myself when he replied, "And why would I want to help you?"

"Well, outside of regaining your freedom, I'll tell you a secret."

He paused. "Why do I need to know anything you have to offer?"

"Because I know why my mom passed the Testing as a Talentless." I felt breathless after admitting it.

I heard another scuff on the other side. "Go on."

I had him. A smirk formed on my lips. "First, unlock Shi's door. I'll tell you once we're out of danger."

"And what makes you think I can do that? Do I look like I have a key?"

"My Dude, you could literally forge a thousand keys if you wanted. All I need you to do is unlock the doors you've already been picking at."

Suddenly, the lock clicked, and the door began to swing open, throwing a puff of cool air my direction. I shuddered.

He was sitting near the door, cross-legged, with a bunch of mirror-tentacles hovering around him

He raised a brow at me through the fire wall, his glinting skin reflecting in the orange glow.

I grinned. "Great! Now don't kill me, and come unlock Shi's door."

He stood, unfolding his long legs and drawing as close to the fire as he could. "One problem." He gestured towards the fire.

"Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh'."

I hummed in thought as I sat on the flame-door, creating a cleared pathway for him where my body was. The fire couldn’t go through me.

"Just don't get caught on my dress," I warned.

He stared down at me for a moment and then shook his head, stepping over me and marching towards the door to Shi's cell. A rope of liquid mirror poured from his hands and slipped into the cell lock, past the wall of fire. In a few seconds, it solidified, and the door unlocked.

I sat on that fire door too, and Shi slipped out, casting a wary glance at me.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I promised. I didn't think it was a good idea to tell him I didn't know how to hurt him even if I wanted to.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

I stood and made a show of dusting off the flames of my dress.

Sterling turned to face me, his mirrored eyes glinting with the flames from the gate. "Now tell me her secret."

I wagged a finger in his face, my heart hammering. My brain wouldn't stop conjuring images in which any moment, his mirror-anacondas would wrap around my neck and squeeze. "Nope! Are we out of danger yet?" My tone sounded a lot more carefree than I felt.

He gave me another stare-down for half a second, his eyes reflecting my grey ones, before sauntering ahead.

"We came this way," Shi explained, leading us down another tunnel.

The tunnel was cool, which I was grateful for, for Shi's sake. I couldn't have cared less about Sterling.

No-one spoke for a while as we walked, so when I heard Sterling's voice rumble from beside me, it made me jump. "What about your mother?"

I composed myself and swallowed before speaking. "She should be asleep, but I don't want to risk staying here any longer than necessary." She was going to be so mad when she found out I'd helped them escape. So mad.

He hummed in acknowledgement.

"Why can't one of you just zap us out of here like Yin Yue and mom can?" I asked.

Shi answered, "Because we're on royal territory. Our powers don't work as well as they normally do."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

Sterling stepped ahead of us and braced his arms against the stone wall before shoving it open, revealing a path I hadn't seen before. He glanced back at me. "It means that if we were to leave that way, our own power could disintegrate us." He turned away and slipped through the entrance he'd revealed.

"Where does this lead?" I felt like I'd done nothing but ask questions all day, but there were so many things I didn't know.

"It leads to the exit." Shi swept a strand of clinging hair off of his damp forehead and sighed. "I'm hot."

We reached the exit, which was a hole looking out over a tropical island. I shivered as the freezing wind swept over me. And I wasn't even at the exit yet!

"Air! Fresh, breathable air!" Shi exclaimed, climbing out of the tunnel and inhaling deep breaths.

I remained quiet, wrapping my arms tightly around myself and shivering. Apparently, I had grown used to the heat, even with my dress still wrapped around me.

As I exited the cave, my dress of fire disappeared, which then revealed my boring old T-shirt and jeans. I sank to the hard ground as an especially cold wind swept over me. My teeth chattered something awful.

Shi and Sterling were talking up ahead of me and hadn't noticed my fall, which I was grateful for, because I didn't want Sterling noticing that I was lagging and think this was a wonderful moment to end my life.

Oh, I was so cold. The sun was shining, birds were singing and flying, but I was cold!

I closed my eyes and tried to push myself up, but my legs felt stiff.

"Are--are you cold?" I heard Sterling ask somewhere above me.

But my eyes wouldn't open, and my jaw couldn't form a reply.

I passed out.